Thango Ntwasa reviews Niq Mhlongo's 'For You, I'd Steal a Goat'

For You, I’d Steal a Goat ★★★★
Niq Mhlongo
Kwela

Violent, impoverished and gang-ridden — words often attributed to every favela, “hood” or township. While these spaces and people are often defined by negative images of where they call home, these places become an illuminating canvas for Niq Mhlongo’s For You, I’d Steal a Goat.

After a long hiatus, in his latest novel Mhlongo dives into human nature. While betrayal, jealousy, love, desire and loyalty feature in his 10th offering, Mhlongo seems to want to give readers a window into the extraordinarily ordinary lives of people in SA’s ghettos. A view that gazes beyond the stereotypes.

There is the relatable struggle with the Lebese family who have their house repossessed due to missing payments during the Covid-19 lockdown in “Unwanted Guest”, the harrowing story of a love torn apart by apartheid in “Displaced” and a rags to riches political piece “Fireplace”. The stories are set in different townships, focusing on people who have stayed and people who have left, with twists and turns that give fresh perspectives on SA’s calamitous universe.

The Lebese family resorts to highly unconventional high-jinks to resolve their problems with their money-crazed landlord. It becomes a reflection of how the wild imagination of children can mimic the lengths adults will go to of their fear of the supernatural. This theme is also seen in the book’s eponymous tale where an SA artist in Germany is possessed by the need to slaughter a goat for good fortunes.

In “Displaced”, Madoda Boya is torn from his wife and children, spending months away from them. As the days and weeks pass, he slowly loses hope that they have survived the forced removals and starts developing feelings for another woman. The story sheds light on an all-too familiar world of men who have headed other homes and even gave birth to the multicultural place that is Soweto.

No other story captures greed quite like “Fireplace”, where the petty and childish squabbles among politicians results in skulduggery and games of corruption. The verbose and colourful language that only SA’s finest could muster helps narrate the dog-eat-dog world politicians construct for themselves.

While the tales of SA’s eclectic societies are thrilling to follow, “Joehustleburg Prison Cell” feel less like a necessary addition but more like an offering that needed to fill an already colourful book. The novel also pressures itself into creating unneeded twists, and by the fourth story it starts to read like a gimmick, as with “Joehustleburg’s” soap-style resolution or the anticlimactic end given to “The In-laws”.

If you are a lover of short stories, Mhlongo’s For You, I’d Steal a Goat is a treat. Playing on the loves, lives and betrayals of South Africans, it’s a much-needed and a refreshing retelling of tales we all know too well.

Click here to buy For You, I'd Steal a Goat.